Cotton tramper



July 10, 1923. fififilfifi I w. D. WILSON ET Al.

COTTON TRAMPER 0rigina 1 Filed Aug. 16, 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet AooL (ALLA/7.0519 1N VEN TTORNEYJE July m 192-3.

' mamw W. D. WILSON ET AL cowon TRAMPER Original Filed Aug. 16. 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS,

A WILL/AND. MLSOH ADOLPHQLANDE fiilllllllllliillllllllllllll1 TORNEYISI,

Jufiy w, 1923. maww W. D. WILSON ET AL COTTON TRAMPER Original. Filed Aug. 16, 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 i I v IllllIIIHIIIILIIHIIHIIHIIIIII| A} \r9 1 R E IllllIIIIHIIHHIIHIIIIIIHIIIIl N A W/LL/AMD. W/LSON v ADOLPH @UL/ ANDEQ INVENTORS,

A TTORNEYS.

My 10 1 3-v 3,461.63

W. D. WILSON ET AL COTTON TRAMPER Original Filed Aug. 16, 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 v INVENTORj WLL IA MD, WA 50h A DOLPH @uLLA/YDER a .m a ATTORNEYS Ftent an in, tea.

WILLIAM D. WILSON D ADOLPH CULLANDEB, OF BELZONI, MISSISSIPPI, ASSIGNORQ OF ONE-THIRD TO ENOCH HAGA, F BELZONI, MISSXSSIPPI. U

*GDTTON TEE.

Continuation of application Serial No.

To. all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we., WILLIAM D. VVILSON and Amount GULLANDER, citizens of the United States, residing at Belzoni, in the 6 county of Humphrey and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Cotton Trampers; and we 318020. The main object of the present in-' vention is the provision of a cotton-tramper which can be quickly and easily mounted for operation, is extremely simple in construction and can be readily placed in position to be used with any well known form of ginning machinery.

Another object of this improved tramper is to reduce the attendance required'for cotton trampers in use at the present time and to provide improved feeding. mechanism whereby the cotton will be fed into the tramper in an even layer or bat and thus so im rove the cotton bale and'sarnple. Xnother object of the preseht invention is the provision of a tramper having improved means whereby the movement of the tramper block can be readily stopped in any 85 desired position without stopping the main driving mechanism.

A further object of the invention is the provision of novel feeding means whereby 7 an even bat is formed so that the cotton is so deposited within the hale box in an even layer and additional means operated through the reciprocation of the tramper head whereby the feeding mechanism is positively operated upon the upward and as downward stroke of the tramper so that the bat formed. by the feeding mechanism will be positively fed into the baling box beheath-the tramper head upon the upward stroke and initial downward stroke of the tram er head, thus doing'away with any coile springs or the like which are used in trampers of the present type and to assure positive operation of the feeding.

mechanism.

318,020, aiea'august is, 1919. run 1921. .Serial no. 436,997.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in the claims and shown in the accompanying drawings in which: a

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a cotton tramper constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, the guide rods 1 being removed.

Fig. 3 is a plan view, the racks and guides being removed.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the feeding mechanism.

Fig; 4 is a detail view illustrating the adjustable mounting of one of the two sprockets in the feeding mechanism.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the placland pitmans which. operate the tramper application and January it,

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the pitman.

Fi 7 is a front elevation of a slightly modi ed form of the pitman.

Fig. 8 is a detail elevation illustrating the manner of operating the braking mechanism.

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a transverse sectional view on the line 99 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a detail front elevation illustrating a portion of the tramper head in two positions showing how the belt shifting mechanism is operated for controlling the feeding mechanism.-

Fig. 12 is a detail plan of Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is an end elevation of the disclosure in Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 1313? of Fig. 11.

Fig. 14 is a side elevation of one of the bearing members. r

Fig. 15 is a detail side. elevation of the guide rods on the 'tramper head and the supporting and guiding means for the same.

In the general construction of our improved tramperwe provide suitable means for mounting and retaining the same inits posts 2 which are connected by the transverse beam 3 while the other ends are retained in position by means of the upright 4 beams 4 connected to the press sills 5. These press sills5are supported at one end by means 'of the posts 6 while the other end is supported by the central standard 7 which operates the usual turn table upon which the baling boxes 8 are. mounted.

Mounted. upon the sills 1 are the spaced bearing plates 9' which are adapted to support the rack driving shaft 10, said shaft having mounted upon its central portion a gear 11 which disposed between the" bearing plates Qandadapted to mesh with the gear 12. The gear 12-is mountedupon the driving shaft 13, one end of which is mounted within, suitablebearings, in the plates 9* while the other end is supported by means of a bearing 14. Mounted upon the end of main driving source operates in order to impart movement to the tramper head. The shaft 10 has upon its outer ends the pinions 17 which are adapted to coact with the rack 18 carried by the spaced bars 19.

These bars 19 areconnected at their outer ends by a cross piece 20 while the lower ends thereof are mounted between the spaced ears 21 formed upon the plate 22. whichis secured to the tramper head 23. From this it will be apparent that when the racks '18 reach the limit of their upward'movement, they will pass from the position illustrated in full lines in Fig. 5 over to the position illustrated in dotted lines in Fig.5, following the direction of the pinion 17 so that when the bars are disposed in the dotted line osition they will be moved downward y again the length of the racks 18, then swung to the side illustrated in full lines and begin their upward travel. This movement is due to the engagement of the pinion 17 with the racks 18, the racks following the movement of the pinions.

In order to prevent lateral movement of the tramper head upon its upper and downward stroke, suitable guide rods 24 are provided which are adapted to reciprocate within the guide sleeves 25. Thesesleeves 25 are retained in their respective position by means of the brace members 26 which are connected to the sleeves and the 'sills 1 and while we have shown this particular form of mounting it will be understood that other suitable means ma be utilized for retaining these guides-mtheir respective positione.

menace 9 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 5 and arranged upon opposite sides of the pinion 17 and suitably spaced from the pimon so that upon the upward and downward stroke of the bars 19 the racks 18 will be retained in engagement with the pinion 17 at all times. In order to'retain the racks 18 in their respective engaging positions with the pinions 17 during their passage from one side of the pinions to the other, the guide rollers29 are attached to the inner faces of the racks 18 at their upper ends and are adaptedto ride within an arcuate track 30 which is formed upon the outer face of each of the brackets 9. From this it will be a parent that theracks 18 are retained at a 1 times 1!? positive engagement with the pinions 17.

In. order to impart movement to the tramper head through the medium of the gears 17 and racks 18, the main operating belt is shifted-from the pulley 16 onto the pulley 15 by means of suitable hand operated mechanism which includes in its constructior. a reciprocating bar 31 mounted for movement within the guide 32 and carrying a loop 33 through which the belt 34 operates so that when the bar 31 is reciprocated the belt 34 will be readily shifted from one pulley to the other. One end of the bar 31 is connected .to an arm 35 which is carried by the transverse shaft 36. This transverse shaft 36 is suitably mounted upon the sills l within bearings 37 and has formed upon one end'a handlever 38 which is preferably arranged at the frontof the tramper where it is readily accessible to the o erator so that the belt 34 can be readily shifted from pulley 16 to pulley 15 or vice versa.

. In order to provide for immediate stoppin of the mechanism when the belt is shi ted from the pulley 15 to the idle ulley 16 a suitable brake is provided w ich includes a brake wheel 39 mounted upon the shaft C and engaged by means of a brake band 40 one end offsaid brake band being attached to one of the sills 1 while the other end is attached to a movable bar 41. The end of-thebar 41 opposite its connection with the brake band 40is pivotally connected tothe inner face of one of the sills asshown' at 42. The main body of the bar 41 is spaced from the sill and mounted thereon is a sleeve 43 carrying a hook'member 44 arranged in parallel relation with the'sleeve 43. The transverse shaft 36 is provided with a crank 45 adapted to engage beneath the hook portion 44 whereby upon rotation;

menses quickly retard the movement of the shaft C.

Our main feeding mechanism which feeds the cotton from the gin into the press box 8 includes a housing 47 having communication with the chute 48, said housing having its front face arranged adjacent the upper end of one of the baling boxes 8 so that the cotton from the gin, which passes down through the chute 48 can be readily conveyed from the housing 47 into the baling boxes 8. Heretofore the cotton which is delivered from the gin has been passed into the baling box 8 in such quantities and a manner that the cotton has not been evenly distributed throughout the baling box and has required the use of an attendant to spread this cotton out evenly within the box so as to provide for an even bale. In order to evenly distribute the cotton within the bal-.

ing box 8 and provide an even bat throughout, our'improved feeding mechanism includes a pair of rollers generally indicated by the numeral 49 arranged within the housing 47 and directly beneath a larger roller 50. The cottonwhich is delivered down the chute 48 falls upon an inclined bottom 51 and is carried downwardly between the rollers 49 and the main pressing roller 50. From this it will be noted. that when the tramper head 23 is completing its downward stroke within the baling box 8 and upon its initial upward stroke the cotton from the chute 48 is collecting within the housing 47 as the feeding mechanism is at a standstill during this operation; but when the tramper head 23 is completing its upward stroke and on its initial downward stroke the rollers 49 and 50 are in operation and the cotton which has previously collected within the housing 47 is passed between the rollers 49 and 50 into the baling box 8 and it will be apparcut that by having the cotton pass between these two sets of rollers 49 and 50 it will be pressed to a certain extent into a bat and evenly fed within the baling press so that when the tramper head 23 moves downwardly to engage the discharge of cotton it will contact with an even supply of cotton throughout the baling box 8 and press the same downwardly and continue this operaio1n throughout the pressing of the entire In order to operate the feeding mechanism a drive shaft 52 is mounted within suitable bearings 53 upon one of the sills 1, said shaft supporting a drive pulley 54 and an idle pulley 55, the idle pulley 55 being connected by means of a belt 56 to the main operating shaft 57. The inner end of the shaft 52 supports a pinion 58 over which the sprocket chain 59 operates, said sprocket chain extending downwardly around the sprocket 60 which is mounted upon the shaft that supports the roller 50 around the sprockets 61 which are mounted upon the shafts that support the rollers 49 and thence upwardly and around a sprocket 62 and continuing on back over the pinion 58 so that when the shaft 52 is rotated, the chain 59 will operate over the several sprockets and impart movement to .the rollers 49 and 50 when it is desired to discharge the cotton from the housing 47 into the baling box 8. In order to take up any slack movement in the sprocket chain 59, the sprocket wheel 62 is mounted for adjustment by means of the plate a which is pivotally supported upon one side of the housing 47 and provided with an arcuate slot b through which the adjusting bolt 0 extends, said bolt having a nut d upon its outer end adapted to be tightened against the plate a to retain the-same in various adjusted positions. It will be noted that the sprocket 62 is mounted upon the stub shaft (2 carried by the upper end of the plate a and from this it will be apparent that the sprocket chain 59 can be readil adjusted to obtain slack or take up any s ack desired.

It is to be understood that our improved feeding mechanism is automatically operated upon the completion of the upward stroke of the tramper head 23 and the initial downward stroke. This automatic feeding is carried out by having the open face channel member 63 mounted u on the tramper head 23 and engaging a roller 64 carried by the pivoted plate 65 mounted upon one side of the sills 1, said plate having pivotal connection with the inner end of the bar 66 7 whereby movement of the plate will impart a reciprocating movement toithe bar. The bar 66 is mounted for sliding movement within the guide 32 and connected thereto is an arm 68. It will be noted that the upper end of the channel iron 63 is curved outwardly as shown at 67 so that when the tramper head 23 moves upwardly the roller 64 will engage within the upper end of the channel iron so that continue upward movement of of the tramper head will move the roller 64 into the main upright portion of the channel 63 and reciprocate the bar 66 to the position illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 11.

The end of the arm 68 is connected to a bar 71 supporting a loop 72 which is adapted to embrace the belt 56 whereby to shift the same from the idle pulley 55 to the drive that the feeding mechanism is operated during the time the tramper head is completing its upward stroke and .making its initial downward strokeso that the cotton which has previously accumulated within the housing 47 will be readily fed into the baling box beneath the tramper head 23 to be com-' pressed upon'the downward stroke of the tramper head. We wish to call particular attention to the fact that by having the U- shaped channel member 63 attached'to the tramper head 23 and engaging the roller 64 to'reciprocate the bar 66 and operate the belt shifting mechanism for imparting movement to the feeder, the operation of the feeding mechanism is positive so that when the tramper head is completing its upward stroke and upon its initial downward stroke the cotton is being fed into the baling box and upon the downward stroke of the tramper head 23 the channel member 63 will return the bar 66 to its normal position so that the belt 56 will be positively shifted back onto the idle pulley 55.

.In order to prevent the compressed cotton from moving upwardly within the baling box 8 after the tramper head 23 has completed its downward stroke and is upon its upward stroke a number of retaining dogs 73 are loosely mounted upon a shaft 7 4 supported upon the exterior of the baling box 8 by means of the bearing box 75. The

inner ends of these retaining dogs are extended through suitable slots in the baling box and are disposed horizontally to engage the cotton after the tramper head has moved upwardly away from the same in order to prevent further upward movement of the cotton. It will be noted that the outer ends of the retaining dogs are suspended below the shaft 74 and it is preferred to have them of sufficient weight to overcome the weight of the inner end of the dogs so that after the tramper head has moved upwardly the retaining dogs will assume a position to engage the cotton.

In order to retain the cotton within the housing 47 during the time the tramper head 23 is moving within the baling box 8, a suitable gate 76 is attached to the rear edge of the tramper head 23 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 15, said gate extending entirely across the outlet portion of the housing 47 so that none of the cotton accumulating within the housing 47 during the completion of the downward stroke 'of the tramper head and the initial upward stroke of the same, can escape from the housing.

in Figure 7 we have illustrated a slightly modified form of the invention wherein the rack members 18' are disposed upon opposite sides of a central track 19' for engage ment with the pinions 17 which can be arranged between the bearing plates 9 instead of on the outer sides thereof as shown in Fig. 3. This arran ment would necessitate of guide rollers 28 ing arranged centrally between the bearing plates 9 for engagement by the central track 19 to retain the racks 18' in their respective positions relative to the 'pinions.

-From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings it will be readily apparent that we have provided a cotton tramper whereby the cotton from the gin will be fed into the baling box in an even bat, this bat being formed by compressing the accumulated cotton between the two sets of rollers 49 and 50 so that when the same passes into the baling box it will be in a nearly even layer. Thus when the tramper head 23 moves downwardly to engage the cotton to compress the same within the baling box, it eliminates the necessity of having an attendant distribute the cotton evenly within the baling box as is generally the case with t-rampers in use at the present time and by having the cotton evenly distributed throughout the bale it will improve the sample of cotton which is withdrawn for sampling the bale prior to marketing. It will also be noted that our improved feeding mechanism is positively operated through the engagement of the channel member 63 with the roller 64 and thus not have to depend on coiled springs or the like for returning the belt shifting mechanism to its normal position on the downward stroke of the tramper head.

W's claim as our invention:

1.111 a cotton tramper, a tramperblock a press box, a conveyor feed to said press box, means for reciprocating said block, means for operating said conveyor, said conveyor .operat-ing means being automatically operated by the tramper block, said automatic means including a reciprocating bar disposed above the press box, a roller member upon one end of the bar, a channel iron on the tra'mper block and engaging said roller, said channel iron having its upper end curved whereby the upward movement of the tramper block will reciprocate the bar and operate a belt shifter said belt shifter oper able in relation to fast and loose pulleys on a drive shaft for said conveyor.

2. In a cotton tramper, a traniper block, a press box, a conveyor feed to said box, means for reciprocating said block, means for operating said conveyor, a reciprocating bar above the press box, a roller at one end of said bar, a channel membercarried by the tramper bloc-k, said channel memberhaving a curved upper end whereby to engage the roller upon the upward stroke of the tramper block to reciprocate the bar in one direction and reciprocate the bar in the opposite direction upon the downward stroke of the eemse 6 tramper block whereby to positively operate cent said track Way opposed to each other a belt shifter connected with the opposite diametrically of the track and rollers on said end of the bar, said belt shifter operable in abutments. 10 relation to fast and loose pulleys on a drive In testimony whereof we aflix our signa- I 5 shaft for said conveyor. 7 tures,

3. In a cotton tramper, a standard having WILLIAM D. WILSON. an arcuate track way and abutments adja- ADOLPH CULLANDER. 

